As cloud computing continues to gain momentum, a research firm has claimed it will help drive up server hardware sales.
The new report from IDC said it expected server hardware revenues to grow from $582 million (373 million) in 2009 to $718 million in 2014, thanks to the influence of public cloud computing.
However, it claimed this number would be even bigger for the larger private cloud market, rising from $2.6 billion this year to $5.7 billion by 2014.
The report claimed public clouds were less likely to be broadly adopted than private ones and they would be less focused on the enterprise space than private clouds.
But there are still obstacles for both types of cloud to overcome before the impact is really made.
"Many IT decision makers are seriously considering cloud computing as a way to dramatically simply their sprawling virtual and physical infrastructure," said Katherine Broderick, research analyst for Enterprise Platforms and Data Centre Trends at IDC.
"However, there is still some lingering apprehension over issues like integration, availability, security, and costs. These concerns, and how they are addressed by IT vendors, will continue to guide the adoption of cloud computing over the next several years."
